When I was a wee lad in the Sixties playing with my Project SWORD, Major Mat, Bright Lite, Action Man and Glow Globs, my older brothers were fully immersed in the monster craze and used to read Creepy and Eerie Comics by Warren publishing. This came into its own during the dark season starting at Halloween and peaking at Christmas, when new comics arrived as if by magic! When I was older I too was monsterized and continued where they had left off, buying new and back issues from a fabulous comic stall on Preston market. But it was my Brothers' earlier copies that stuck in my mind to this day as the stories were so genuinely scary and the illustration out of this world.
One such dastardly tale was Hop Frog. It was originally penned by Edgar Alan Poe and adapted for Creepy. Like the similar Cask of Amontilado it scared me to death! You can find it in full online either as Poe's grim original from 1850 or the Creepy illustrated version from Issue 11. Better still, get hold of an old book of Poe's works, settle in your favourite armchair and read the 'old fashioned' way in front of a roaring fire!
But be warned [and that includes Toad], Hop Frog, a salutory tale of tyranny and revenge, is not for the squeamish or easilly offended. However, if like me you like of the darker matter of Sixties monster comics, it is dripping with gothic grue and ideal for a dark night''s reading this ghostly season.
What were your favourite comics?
What were your favourite comics?
The only way I can sit in front of a roaring fire in these days of central heating is if I set light to the neighbours house ... heh, heh ... now there's a thought!
ReplyDeleteRest assured that I shan't be reading it, Woodsy. You know I can't handle horror stuff. (shivers). Long, long ago I read one of M. R. James' stories .... one about a doll's house (didn't he write two different versions of that?) .... and it remained in my mind for years, squatting there like some kind of loathsome monster, periodically raising itself up to remind me of its presence. NEVER again. Or, as it's now Poe we are talking about, should I say, NEVERMORE?
That said, I am most curious about the way the comics adapted the stories. But I'll resist the temptation to find out.
No don't have any nostalgia for horror comics. Beleive they were actually aimed at adults, and I've always had reservations about this. Think comics should be for kids, even if most parents used to read their children's weeklies!
ReplyDeleteFor me the best was always TV21, and anything with space stories!
Would you expand on that, please, Andy. And do you think there is a difference between comics and graphic novels? I ask cos I have some reservations of my own.
ReplyDeleteI'm not particularly in touch with children's comics anymore .... current comics, I mean. In fact, I'm not sure I could actually name one off the top of my head. Are there many nowadays? The impression I get from visits to the local library and places such as Forbidden Planet, is that comics seem very much to be aimed at adults these days. I'm not just referring to those (to me puzzling) overtly sexually explicit ones which would seem more appropriate if they were sold in a seedy back street shop in Soho (yeah, I'll admit it, I'm a prude) .... but just comics in general. When and how did this shift take place, I wonder? ... assuming it isn't just a misinterpretation on my part.
There is a lot of good stuff out there ... genuinely good and clever story telling .... but why is there also so much that is so VERY dark?
Thoughts, anyone?
By the way ... my favourite comics as a child were the Disney Scrooge McDuck.
I guess I would classify todays most of adult-oriented comics as graphic novels, it's just a different label.
ReplyDeleteAs for children's comics, well I think the Beano is still aimed at chidren, even though it is enjoyed by adults. Can't think of any others!